


Reconciling

by ysande



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Angst, Christmas, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 22:15:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9144598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ysande/pseuds/ysande
Summary: There's a lot of reconciling to be done before Christmas can be celebrated.Written in 2008 for caitymom, who requested a disagreement between Chris and Buck which prompts Buck to remember a Christmas with Chris, Sarah and Adam - and which involves JD and Ezra.





	

Buck was the kind of man who seemed to have been born with an over-abundance of love. He really did love (in his own way) each and every one of the ladies that he entertained. He held a fair amount of affection for the raggedy group of peacekeepers and troublemakers (no separating the two) that he'd fallen into company with in Four Corners, and he had a special brotherly affection for JD (the kid needed an someone to keep an eye out for him).

And there was probably no denying that the bonds of friendship between him and Chris Larabee were stronger than what existed between most (had to be, for him to have put up with Chris for so many years - and for Chris to have put up with him) - but damned if Buck could figure out why, at times.

"Goddamn stubborn son of a bitch," fumed Buck.

Ezra raised an eyebrow but did not look up from his game of solitaire. "What seems to be the problem, Mr Wilmington?"

"Chris Larabee, that's what," growled Buck. "I swear, that man could infuriate God himself."

"What'd he do, Buck?" JD wanted to know. Technically, it was Ezra's watch at the jail, but JD had some kind of proprietary feeling over the place. Like as not, he'd be in there with whoever was watching guard, whenever he had a spare few minutes.

"It's Christmas. Normal people do neighbourly things at Christmas time. Not Chris Larabee. I just invited him to the party that Mary's hostin' on Christmas Eve - the man damn near took my head off for it," Buck said heatedly. "It was Mary that wanted him there and it'd do him good to do a little celebrating. Not Chris Larabee, though. Oh, no. Normal people respond politely to requests for their company. Chris'll damn near shoot you for daring to ask." Bitterness lay beneath the agitation in Buck's voice. He'd tussled with Chris on a number of occasions and they'd exchanged their fair share of bloody noses and black eyes when disagreements (often fuelled by whiskey) ballooned into brawls. But they were friendly enough affairs, with no hard feelings during or after the skirmish. What Buck hated, though, were the times when Chris got real mean and cold, and really _meant_ the threats of violence.

"I take it our Mr Larabee is not fond of Christmas festivities," Ezra commented.

Buck snorted. "He'd give Scrooge a run for his money," he said sourly.

"Ah, but recall the ending to that tale," Ezra pointed out. And then, more gently: "Perhaps he's simply not ready to have company at this time of year. Christmas is a time for family, and when one is alone without family at a time when the world is celebrating with theirs, it can be somewhat... disheartening."

"Did Chris always dislike Christmas?" JD wanted to know.

Buck smiled involuntarily at the memory. "He never cared much for it, before he met Sarah. Like Ez said, it's a time for family, and I gather he didn't have much of one before he met her. Sarah, though - she wanted a tree and garlands for the windows and a real Christmas supper. Still, it was a quiet affair when it was just the two of them. Wasn't 'til little Adam came along that the real festivities began.'

'The Christmas when Adam was two - I'd never seen Chris so excited before. It'd been snowing up a storm the few days leading up to it, but Chris, he was determined to get to town to buy Adam's Christmas candy and Christmas present. And you know what Chris is like once he's got his mind set on something." Buck grimaced.

"There was three feet of snow on the ground but he just put on his coat and saddled up his horse and rode out to town like it was a fine spring day. Sarah was spitting nails, she was so mad at him for worryin' her like that. 'It's not about the presents,' she told him in no uncertain terms. 'Christmas is about the people you love and the people you spend it with, and what kind of Christmas do you think Adam and Buck and I will have if you break your fool neck in the snow?'"

Buck smiled, thinking of Sarah the way he always remembered her, with her hair ruddy in the candlelight, her temper quick to rise and her laughter quicker still.

"He wouldn't let me go with him. Said that I had to help Sarah with the turkey and Adam with the tree, and that my boots were so full of holes that like as not I'd lose my toes to frostbite. He was gone a whole day, and Sarah spent the whole time singing carols with Adam that sounded like prayers and watching at the window for Chris to come back. When he did, he'd found a false beard from somewhere and stuffed a goose-feather pillow down his front, and he walked up to the house ringin' one of the cowbells, making a noise like you've never heard. Of course, all the commotion woke Adam, and Adam took one look at the figure at the door and started shrieking 'Santa Claus! Santa Claus!'"

And Buck's smile was radiant now. He'd forgotten about JD's presence, and Ezra's, and that he was angry at Chris's stubbornness. He forgot that he was in Four Corners, in fact, and was once more back at Chris's farm during happier days.

"He had Christmas candy for Adam, and a hobby horse, and a roll of cloth for a new winter coat, and painted ball. And after Adam had bounced all over the place and practically glued himself to the hobby horse, Sarah finally got him back to bed, and Chris came back in, dressed as himself. And he'd brought me a new pair of boots, cos he knew I was headin' West the next morning with barely five dollars to my name. And he'd brought Sarah an engagement ring, set with garnets and diamonds.'

'I never had the money to buy you one when I first asked you to marry me,' he said, real softly. 'I know you always wanted one, and all I've ever wanted was to give you all that you wished for.' Sarah cried, then, and kept on cryin' even after Chris had folded her into his arms. 'I've got all I've ever wished for right here,' she said. 'I've got my son and my husband and our truest friend, and we're all here together, and we're happy. I'll always treasure this ring, but as long as you're here, and you're happy, Chris, I'll have everything a woman could wish for.'"

There was silence for some time after Buck finished speaking. Tears stood in JD's eyes and Buck's burned with his own emotions. The steady flick of cards from Ezra's fingers had stopped but the angle of his hat and the tilt of his head obscured the gambler's face.

"I can see why Chris doesn't want to celebrate the holidays," JD said softly.

Ezra cleared his throat. "I've not had the honour of meeting Sarah Larabee, but I might well imagine that she'd prefer Chris to remember her with love and joy, not bitterness and sorrow."

"That's just it," Buck said sadly. All of his earlier aggravation had gone. "I never knew anyone like Sarah for being joyful. It was like her own special gift, bein' happy and making other people happy, too. You couldn't be around her but for a minute before she'd have you smiling. I loved Sarah like a sister, and I loved Adam like he was my own son. Not a day goes by when I don't wish I had them back, but I know Sarah would want us to be happy, even without her and Adam here."

"Christmas is about being with the people you love and who love you, whether in body or spirit," Ezra ventured, although on his lips, it was as much a question as statement.

And suddenly Buck understood. "We've just got to make Chris realise that he's got Sarah and Adam in spirit - but he's got us in the flesh, as well."

"But forcing him to go to dinner parties might not be the best way to do," put in JD.

Buck grinned, a little abashedly. "Nope," he conceded. "But we'll think of a way."

"Indeed," said Ezra. "It is Christmas, after all."


End file.
